Carbon and Sustainability Accounting: An IPCC-based Approach

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Carbon and Sustainability Accounting An
IPCC-based Approach

• Prof. Paul Jowitt Dr. Keith J. Baker
• Scottish Institute of Sustainable Technology
  (SISTech)
• Heriot-Watt University

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Outline

• Where to start?
• Embodied Carbon
• Operational Carbon
• Sustainability Accounting
• 5 Principles IPCC / World Resources Institute
  
• Where now?

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Where to start?

• If you cant measure it, you cant manage it.
• Robert Kaplan
• Not everything that can be counted counts, and
  not everything that counts can be counted.
• Einstein

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Embodied Carbon

• The carbon and other GHGs (expressed in CO2e)
  embodied in the capital of an organisation
• i.e. everything the organisation owns.

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Operational Carbon

• The carbon and other GHGs (expressed in CO2e)
  emitted by an organisations operations
  (including emissions from electricity
  generation).
• i.e. what the organisation does.

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Sustainability Accounting

• Also called the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC).
• Accounting for the wider impacts of an
  organisation and its operations (environmental,
  social, economic, etc).
• The next big challenge!

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WRI 5 Principles

• Relevance
• Completeness
• Consistency
• Transparency
• Accuracy
• (World Resources Institute, The Greenhouse Gas
  Protocol, report submitted to the IPCC)

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Relevance

• The GHG inventory should reflect the GHG
  emissions of the organisation.
• It should serve the decision-making needs of
  users both internal and external to the
  organisation.

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Completeness

• Account for and report on all GHG emission
  sources and activities within the chosen
  inventory boundary.
• Disclose and justify any specific exclusions.

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Consistency

• Use consistent methodologies to allow for
  meaningful comparisons of emissions over time.
• Document any changes to the data, inventory
  boundary, methods, or any other relevant factors
  in the time series.

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Transparency

• Address all relevant issues in a factual and
  coherent manner, based on a clear audit trail.
• Disclose any relevant assumptions and make
  appropriate references to the accounting and
  calculation methodologies and data sources used.

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Accuracy

• Ensure that the quantification of GHG emissions
  is robust, and that uncertainties are reduced as
  far as practicable.
• With sufficient accuracy to enable users to make
  decisions with reasonable confidence.

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Where now?

• We can measure most of what matters.
• We can use what we know to drive policy.
• We can ensure policy delivers sustainable
  outcomes.
• Or

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